Terrible tourist attractions – from Marble Arch slag heap to Hell on Earth

London's much-maligned Marble Arch Mound has shut just three days after it opened.

The 25-metre artificial hill, which cost £2million and charged visitors between £4 and £8 to climb it, was branded disappointing by visitors who claimed it looked like a “slag heap”.

Westminster Council, who are in charge of the project, have since said some elements of it are “not yet ready”, offering those who were disappointed a refund and a free ticket to come back.

But there are plenty of other terrible tourist attractions out there, the Daily Star reveals…

Bah humbug

It was supposed to be the UK’s answer to Lapland, but in 2011 brothers Victor and Henry Mears were convicted over misleading visitors to their New Forest theme park.

People who went to the Lapland New Forest event were treated to a broken ice rink, plastic polar bear and huskies that looked so miserable the RSPCA were called.

The scam is thought to have totalled £1million in pre-sold tickets.

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Spat out

Seattle is home to a very unusual tourist spot – a brick wall covered in used chewing gum.

Located next to the city’s Market Theater, it started off in 1993, when patrons started sticking gum to the wall.

The theatre’s workers kept scraping it off but it was a losing battle and it was declared a tourist attraction six years later.

People have created small art works from the gum and it has been named one of the top five “germiest” attractions in the world.

Rock bottom

Noel’s House Party was one of the UK’s most popular TV shows during the 1990s.

In 1994, a theme park called Crinkley Bottom – named after Noel Edmonds’ fictional village – was opened in Somerset.

Nicknamed ‘Blobbyland’, another one was launched in Morecambe, Lancs.

But they were short-lived after a series of scandals and now lie abandoned and regularly photographed by urban explorers.

That stinks

Unveiled in 2002, a turd made of foam is the first thing visitors to the town of Kiama in New South Wales, Australia, will see.

The Big Poo was commissioned by politician Ian Cohen as a protest against a sewage scheme that proposed to dump real faeces into the sea nearby.

But it’s become an unlikely tourist attraction with visitors often posing for photos in front of the 5m-long poop.

Spun out

In 2016, a ferris wheel in the Midlands called the Dudley Eye was mocked and branded the worst tourist attraction in the UK.

During its month-long stint in the town, people could pay £4.50 to ride the 35m-high wheel – but they were disappointed by the views which included an abandoned bingo hall, a town centre car park and grey concrete buildings.

Go to Hell

There really is Hell on Earth – it’s a small town in Michigan, US.

Now an unlikely tourist attraction.

Hell’s townsfolk have taken it upon themselves to milk as much out of its moniker as possible, selling death certificates and scorched postcards, setting up fake educational institution Damnation University and even opening an ice cream parlour that serves scoops in miniature coffins.

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